Edit ArticleHow to Start an Aquarium Shop Five Parts:Planning the storeGetting the supplies togetherBreeding fishCaring for the fishStarting salesCommunity Q&A Thinking of starting an aquarium store? With a little determination, creativity and money you'll be able to make a profit in no time. Here is how to set up your own home business.Learn as much as possible about the fish you want to sell. Are the fish peaceful, semi-aggressive and aggressive? Know which fish will be compatible with other fish, how large fish will get and how quickly, what the fish will eat whether they are herbivores, carnivores, or omnivores. Know what the fish need their water temperature at for survival, best growth, and breeding. Do your research on fish you order and make sure you have good knowledge on the fish you order and sell because the customers will have lots of questions. Be able to answer them quickly, easily and correctly. Your answers and suggestions to their questions about the fish may very well be the thing that brings them back or turns them away, and keeps their other fish alive or dead.

Make sure the tank setups are working. Begin breeding and stocking your tanks. Before you add expensive tropical fish to your new tanks, you will need to go through the cycling process. This process is to avoid "new tank syndrome." release adrenaline on commandYou should cycle your tanks with a few hearty fish.where to buy aquarium bulkheads Add easy breeder fish such as guppies and mollies. fish tanks for sale in cairns qldOnce these have a stable population in your tanks, start buying different types of fish. Stock up on food and medications.This can be a challenge. Once your tanks are set up and cycled through, you will need to care for the fish. Maintaining healthy fish will include these tasks:

Regular aquarium cleanings and water changes Regular feedings, using a variety of healthy foods Recognizing any odd behaviors in your fish Many problems start with water quality. The quality of the water can be compromised when the decorations-rocks, gravel, plastic plants-are added. They may contain limestone which will make the water alkaline. You will forever struggle with maintaining the pH balance in your tank. Make sure the decorations you use are clean, appropriate and of a quality material. Start up your shop. Once you have the amount of fish and tanks that you want, open your store up. Make sure to obtain the right permits before attempting this step. Read up on starting a small business. Know your general plants and their needs (Lights/Fertilizers) and what types of fish do well in similar conditions. Quarantine fish before putting them in the tanks, when customers realize you have healthy fish they'll want to come back. Making each tank maintain itself with the right types of fish and other living things will reduce your maintenance workload some but not all.

Still it is worth it to let algae eaters to the first line of defense and other cleaning shrimp, snails and fish provide an added layer of self maintenance. Don't sacrifice quality when tempted to buy cheap heaters.Keep everything in balance as much as possible (According to the normal "Cycle" of a tank). Don't change the pH unless you know what you are doing. Keep the price of your fish low, but high enough to make a profit. Know what fish are aggressive and which are not. You don't want to send 3 fish home with a family and the children watch the bigger one eat the other two! (Unless they are feeders) Know that goldfish are some of the worst fish as far as keeping water clean and that you will likely have to filter their water 2 to 3 times as much as the others. Certain fish eat their fry. It's a good idea to separate the fry from the adults. Divide your store by the various types of tanks you will have. (Freshwater Hi Temp/ Low Temp, Saltwater, Brackish water, Goldfish tanks, etc..)

Colored gravel and fake plants will make your tanks more eye-pleasing to your customers. Give customers a reason to come to your store rather than commercial pet stores (lower cost, high quality, beauty, healthy, more options, better advice). Come up with a backup plan if the power goes down. Some fish can survive for some time without filtration, heating, etc., but some fish aren't suited to that. Maintaining fish takes experience! Learn as much as you can before attempting your own business.Setting up a store requires money, time, energy and the necessary permits. "As a new business owner you will need to know your federal tax responsibilities."Get an advanced security system. Small shops are key targets for burglars.This freshwater aquarium setup article explains how to set up a basic freshwater fish tank. We'll start with a short list of the equipment you'll need and then give you a step by step guide on setting up or starting your first freshwater fish tank.

Equipment checklist of items you will need: STEP 1: Realize the responsibility involved. Learning how to set up a fish tank is not all that difficult, but there are some steps you should follow for a freshwater aquarium setup. First, you must realize a few things about an aquarium setup. A tropical fish tank is just like having a dog or a cat when it comes to the amount of effort on your part. In order to have a successful freshwater tropical fish tank you will have to work at it. Once a week, or at most once every two weeks, you will need to perform some kind of maintenance on the tank. Most of the time you will be performing water changes. You will also have to feed your fish at least once a day. Setting up and running a fish tank does cost money. There are recurring expenses such as replacing filter media, buying food, etc. Check out the Freshwater vs. Saltwater Aquarium page to get an idea of the setup costs involved. If you are up to the challenge, please proceed!

STEP 2: Decide on an aquarium size. It's a good idea to have in mind what kind of freshwater aquarium fish you want to keep in your freshwater aquarium setup before you purchase an aquarium. Some fish only grow to be an inch or two, whereas other types of tropical fish can grow 12 or 13 inches or more in length! Knowing what kind of fish you want will help you decide the size of the tank they will need. If this is your first time with an aquarium, it may be a good idea to start with a 10 or 20 gallon aquarium setup for now and stock it with some smaller and hardier species. To get your creative juices flowing, research freshwater aquarium setup ideas by checking out the Freshwater Aquarium Builds forum to see how members have set up their aquariums. STEP 3: Decide on the aquarium's location. Place your freshwater aquarium setup in an area where the light and temperature of the tank won't be affected by external sources such as windows and heater vents. Sunlight that enters the room through an unshaded window could affect the temperature of your tank.

This could also lead to green algae problems for your tank down the road. You will want to place your aquarium on a stand that will be able to hold its total weight. You also want to be sure that the floor is able to support the total weight of the aquarium and stand. A good rule of thumb for determining the total weight of a full aquarium is 10 pounds per gallon of water. For example, a 55-gallon tank will weigh approximately 550 pounds when filled with water! STEP 4: Buy your aquarium and equipment. Now is a good time to decide on the type of aquarium filter you will want to use. You will also need to purchase a heater capable of heating the freshwater aquarium setup size you have. Buy the gravel, plants, a power strip and other decorations. A good rule of thumb for the amount of gravel that you will need is 1 to 1.5 pounds of gravel per gallon of water. Another consideration is whether or not you want to make it a planted freshwater aquarium setup. If so, you will want to invest in some higher output lighting than what normally comes with all in one freshwater aquarium kits.

STEP 5: Set up your aquarium and stand. Wash out your tank with water only! Do not use soap or detergents. Soap residue left behind will be harmful for your tropical fish. If you are going to use an under gravel filter (not recommended) now would be the time to set it up as well. STEP 6: Wash Gravel, plants and decorations. Be sure to wash the gravel thoroughly before adding it to your tank. An easy way to do this is to put some of the rocks in a pasta strainer and wash them out in your bath tub. Then place the clean gravel in a clean 5-gallon bucket for transport to the aquarium. After adding the gravel you can place your plants and decorations. STEP 7: Add water to the aquarium. To avoid messing up your gravel and plants, you can place a plate or saucer in the middle of your aquarium and direct the water flow onto the plate. Use room temperature water when filling. To remove the chlorine and chloramine, use something like Tetra AquaSafe for Aquariums. Don't completely fill up the aquarium until you are sure of the layout of your decorations.

Otherwise, when you place your arm in to move stuff around water is going to spill over. STEP 8: Set up equipment. Install your heater but don't plug it in until thermostat in the heater has adjusted to the water temperature. This usually takes about 15 minutes or so. Hook up your filter and any other equipment you have, then top off the aquarium water in your freshwater aquarium setup to just under the hood lip. Place your hood and tank light on the aquarium and then check your power cords to be sure that they are free of water. I would also recommend using a drip loop on all of the power cords to be extra cautious. For more information on safety, read this great article on aquarium electrical safety. Plug all of the equipment into a power strip and then "turn on" the aquarium.Wait, wait, wait and then wait some more. I know, you want to add some fish. But, in order to do this right you must wait until your aquarium has cycled before adding any fish. There are ways of speeding up this process.

Check out the nitrogen cycle page to learn more about starting the nitrogen cycle and how to speed it up. If you must use fish to cycle, try to get a hardier species like the zebra danio or cherry barb. You may notice your fish tank cycle kicking in gear if you start to get some cloudy aquarium water after a few days.Only add one or two fish at a time. Adding a couple fish at a time gives your filtration system the time needed to take on the increased biological load that the new fish introduce. When you bring the fish home let the bag float in the tank for about 15 minutes so that the fish can become acclimated to the temperature and pH of the aquarium water. After 5 minutes of floating the bag you should add some of the aquarium water to the bag so that the fish can become acclimated to the pH level in the aquarium. This will help reduce the amount of stress imposed on the fish. Stressed fish often leads to dead or diseased fish! Don't feed your fish on the first day. They probably wouldn't eat any food on the first day anyway.

Let them get acquainted with their new home. If you're interested in some good and hardy first fish, please read the Good First Tropical Fish article.Get ready for regular maintenance. Be prepared to spend some time once every week or two to clean your tank. Performing regular water changes will reduce the nitrate levels and keep your tropical fish happy and healthy. As you can see, the steps for how to set up a fish tank are not that complex and hopefully you now have your aquarium setup and running! Have fun, take care of and enjoy your fish! There are many ways to set up a freshwater aquarium. Here is a quick video showing another way to set up a tank. We have had a tank for about a month with fish in it. The water all of a sudden turned cloudy last night and has continued that way today. Is this a normal transition process of newer tanks or is it a problem? Cloudy aquarium water in a newly established tank could be attributed to a few different factors:

Overfeeding - try to feed your fish very tiny amounts and only give them as much as they can consume within a minute or two. Bacterial Bloom - If your cloudy aquarium water is a cloudy white or gray you may be experiencing a bacterial bloom. This bacteria is talked about on the aquarium nitrogen cycle page. The aquarium nitrogen cycle is an essential cycle that you should definitely know about. Please read the article. Completely replacing filter media - if you change out all of the filter media when you perform your tank maintenance you are removing most of the beneficial bacteria mentioned above and may be causing your tank to go through a mini-cycle. Try to swap out only half of the filter media during maintenance. Power filters sometimes come with two filter slots just for this purpose. Water Changes - if you recently did a water change sometimes the water coming out of the tap can be cloudy. To avoid this (and some other potential problems, such as pH swings) it can be a good idea to let your water age a day or two before using it in your water change.